


Little Wolf

by Gryffin_Duck



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Elves, F/M, Original Werewolf Culture, Physical Disability, Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, Werewolves, original d&d campaign, syngorn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24255481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gryffin_Duck/pseuds/Gryffin_Duck
Summary: “She’s different, but she’s not broken.”One choice, one night, one moon can change everything.





	1. Chapter 1

“I am sorry, but there is nothing more I can do. A most peculiar case, however.”

Carric repeated the two sentences, spoken by Archmage Elian Thenan in Emon, over and over in his head. Though it had been almost a month since he, Meriele, and Arie left Emon, Carric was no closer to accepting the Archmage’s prognosis. Having exhausted every healer in Syngorn and visiting every large city in all of Tal’Dorei in search of answers, the Archmage of Emon was his last hope, save for Yurek Windkeeper of the Arcana Pansophical itself. 

Arie, Carric’s six-year-old daughter, was an enigma, though Arie herself was blissfully unaware of this fact. And now that even Elian Thenan could not provide answers, Carric would have to accept it. 

“Carric,” his wife, Meriele, said as she placed her hand on his leg, “perhaps we should set up camp. The horses need a rest.”

Carric gazed up at the night sky, high above the Verdant Expanse. They were close to Syngorn, but not close enough to push through. The bright, almost full moon, Catha, was high in the sky; they had already traveled hours since nightfall. Carric noticed that the second moon was nearly as big as Catha. If he remembered right, that only happened once a year. 

“Up ahead,” Meriele said, pointing, “there’s a clearing.”

Carric nodded and navigated the horses off the path and through a small copse of trees until they reached a clearing. 

“Are we home?” a small voice said from the back of the wagon.

Carric turned around as the horses stopped and smiled at Arie. She was curled up in a pile of blankets, her blonde hair messy and wild around her head. Her eyes were a bright, icy blue, just like Meriele’s.

“Not yet, Arie,” Carric said. “One more day and then we’ll be home.”

Carric hopped down from the wagon and busied himself detaching the horses and tying them up to a nearby tree. He took a deep breath of the forest air as he filled their water bucket from a nearby stream. 

Carric knew the Verdant Expanse like the back of his hand, having spent a few hundred years exploring it in his youth. It was the first place he went after leaving the Verdant Guard and it was where he met Meriele. It was where every tree that formed every carving in his and Meriele’s shop, the Whimsical Crate, came from. And, most importantly, the Verdant Expanse was where Arie was born.

_“I told you you should have stayed home!” Carric shouted as he spread blankets out on the ground with shaking hands. “This was too much.”_

_“It’s two months early,” Meriele said as she clutched her pregnant belly. “I didn’t - ah - think this would happen!”_

_Carric helped Meriele down onto the blankets, meeting her gaze as he did so. He’d never seen such panic in her eyes before. It made her look hundreds of years younger. He took a deep breath, breathing in the scent of the forest, and tried to compose himself. He had to be strong. For Meriele. For their child who was coming into the world too early._

_“You can do this,” he said, squeezing her hand._

_“I can’t!” Meriele shouted. “It’s too early! I have to wait. She has to stay inside!”_

_“I don’t think you’ve got much choice. The baby is coming now,” Carric said._

_Meriele let out a scream loud enough to scare off the nearby birds, squeezing Carric’s hand so hard he thought for sure it was broken._

_“This is it,” Carric said. “You’ve got to let go of me so I can catch her.”_

_Meriele let out another scream and let go, this time clenching the blankets. Her hair was wild, like it was the day they first met._

_“Carric, something’s wrong,” Meriele shrieked._

_Carric felt his heart skip a beat. “Wh-what do you mean?”_

_“I mean something’s wrong!” she shouted. “I-I don’t know what. But something is not right!”_

_Carric swallowed hard and waited as Meriele let out another scream and pushed. “She’s here, I can see her!”_

_“It’s taking too long, Carric!”_

_“No,” Carric said as he clutched the tiny baby in his hands. “I’ve got her.”_

_“She’s not crying!” Meriele gasped. “Carric, she’s not crying!”_

_“It’s the cord,” Carric said. “It’s tangled around her.” He held his daughter in one hand and carefully unwrapped the cord from around her neck._

_“She’s still not crying!”_

_Carric rubbed the baby’s chest and muttered a spell. Once, twice, three times. It felt like forever, but the baby let out a muffled cry._

_Carric let out his own breath and moved next to Meriele, holding their baby between them. She was tiny, smaller than any baby should be, but she was there. And she was theirs._

“Carric!”

Carric jolted out of his thoughts and turned around. Meriele had already set up the tent and was working on building a fire. Carric gave each horse a pat and walked back to the wagon.

“Daddy!” 

Arie was peeking her head out of the back of the wagon. Carric smiled and walked over to her. 

“Daddy, can I come out now?” Arie asked. “I’m bored.”

“Of course,” Carric said. 

Arie held out her hands and Carric lifted her out of the wagon. Arie was small for a six-year-old, often mistaken for a four-year-old in Syngorn. Carric set Arie down on the wagon step and reached behind her for her crutches.

Carric ran his hands up and down the crutches for a moment before handing them to Arie. Each one took him days to carve, forming each out of a single oak branch from a tree he chopped down himself. 

Arie took the crutches, fit them onto her arms, and stood up. She grinned up at Carric. “Daddy, can I go explore in the trees?”

“Yes, but don’t go far, and don’t go into the forest. Stay on this side of the tree line,” Carric said.

Carric watched as Arie shuffled off toward the tree line beyond the fire, which was now crackling. He carved the crutches about seven months ago, after he and Meriele noticed she was having more trouble walking and taking longer to get up after she fell. With them, Arie walked faster than ever and nothing seemed to hold her back. She still grew exhausted faster than other children her age, but this was a start.

As he walked from the wagon to the fire, Carric watched Arie. She wandered in and out of the trees, looking up into the leaves and bending over to pick up things off the ground, just like every child her age did. That was all Carric wanted was for Arie: to have a normal childhood.

“She’s perfect the way she is,” Carric said as he sat down next to Meriele. 

“I know,” Meriele said. “I’ve known that since the day she was born.”

“I have, too,” Carric said. “I just want what’s best for her.” 

“I think now what’s best for her is for us to stop hauling her all over Tal’Dorei. We need to teach her how to...manage with what she has,” Meriele said quietly. “No more mages. No more wizards. No more healers, other than what she needs to maintain what she has.”

“I know,” Carric said. “It just...it breaks my heart when she can’t do something she wants to do.”

Meriele took Carric’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Mine, too. But Carric, that’s where we step in. We will help her. And the best thing we can do right now is teach her that she’s not broken. She’s just Arie.”

Carric nodded. “You’re right.”

“She’s different,” Meriele said. “But she’s not broken.”


	2. The Tree

“Remember the night we first met?” Meriele asked.

Carric smiled, turning his gaze from the fire to his wife. “Not too far from here, was it? And how could I forget. You tried to kill me.”

_It was simply the largest system of tree roots Carric had ever seen in his life and he had to find where they ended. They spiraled and turned, going in and out of the ground, occasionally a full foot off the ground, all seeming to have stemmed from the same tree. Carric followed them, twisting and turning when they did, jumping over the tall ones, his eyes focused on the ground._

_They couldn’t possibly go on forever. They had to end somewhere and Carric was determined to find where. Not to chop the tree down, however. A tree this magnificent deserved to survive. A tree this large was probably older than the oldest elves._

_Carric heard voices growing louder as he traced the roots, but ignored them. Other adventurers, perhaps. He continued ignoring them until an arrow landed squarely in the tip of the toe of his boot, just missing his toe itself._

_Carric stopped and looked up, letting out a shriek. Expecting some sort of rogue or bandit, Carric saw, perhaps, the most beautiful elf he’d ever seen in his life. She was tall, her blonde hair falling down her back all the way to her waist. It wasn’t done in perfect braids. It wasn’t done at all. It simply surrounded the woman, flying everywhere as she ran toward him. She stopped sort a few feet away, but close enough for Carric to notice how blue her eyes were._

_“Who the hell are you?” she exclaimed, not lowering her bow._

_Carric bent down and yanked the arrow out of his boot. “I ought to ask you that, seeing as you came close to killing me.”_

_“If I wanted to kill you I would have,” the woman replied. “My question stands. Who the hell are you?”_

_“Carric Siannodel,” Carric replied as he stepped closer._

_“Siannodel,” the woman repeated. “You’re from Syngorn, aren’t you. Your name sounds familiar.”_

_Carric nodded. “My father is a general in the Verdant Guard. His father was as well. As was his father before him.”_

_The woman raised her eyebrows. “But you are not. Otherwise, you would’ve noticed me before I shot you with an arrow.”_

_Carric felt his cheeks redden. “I am not. Why did you shoot me with that arrow?”_

_The woman smirked. “I’ve been watching you staring at the ground for fifteen minutes. I wanted to get your attention.”_

_“There are better ways,” Carric said._

_“Better, sure. But more entertaining? I don’t think so. Why were you staring at the ground?”_

_Carric looked at her. She looked amused and like she didn’t have a care in the world. Her clothes were clearly from Syngorn, but looked worn, as if she’d been in the forest for months, if not years. She looked every bit as carefree as Carric wanted to be._

_“This tree root,” Carric said, poining. “It’s miles long. I’ve been following it. I want to see where it ends up.”_

_The woman shrugged. “Well, all right, then. Let’s keep following it.”_

_“You mean, you’re going to come with me?” Carric asked._

_“Well, yes. Otherwise something is going to kill you because you aren’t paying attention. There’s werewolves out here, you know,” she said._

_“It’s daytime,” Carric said. “And the full moon was a week ago.”_

_The woman shrugged again. “Still, there’s ravagers and who knows what else. And now you’ve got me curious as well.”_

_Carric opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t think of anything to say. He simply nodded and continued following the roots. The woman fell into step next to him._

_“I’m Meriele, by the way. Meriele Yelfaren,” she said after a few minutes. “I’m also from Syngorn. None of my family are or have ever been in the Verdant Guard.”_

“I did not,” Meriele said, laughing. “I just wanted you to look up from the damn ground.” 

“And I still say you could’ve shouted or even thrown an acorn at me,” Carric said. 

“The arrow was much more fun,” Meriele replied.

Carric laughed and looked across the fire to where Arie was now making her way over to them. She stumbled as she reached them and Carric scooped her up and held her in his lap.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“Oh, we’re remembering the time Mom shot me with an arrow the day we met,” Carric said.

Arie giggled. “I like that story. I want to shoot an arrow someday.”

“And someday you will,” Carric said and he meant it. Arie’s legs did not mean she couldn’t learn to fight. 

“Carric,” Meriele said.

“It’s possible,” Carric said as he smoothed Arie’s hair. “And we need to teach her. The whole world is going to tell her she can’t fight, can’t walk, can’t...whatever. We need to teach her so she can prove them wrong.”

Meriele opened her mouth, but closed it again, and simply nodded.

Carric continued smoothing Arie’s hair as she fell asleep against his chest. She’d already proved them wrong, proved everyone wrong, and he knew she would continue to do so.

_“I believe it is a side effect of her birth,” Tanelia Miralar said. “When she was without oxygen for that long...it damaged her brain.”_

_Meriele gasped. “This is my fault.”_

_“It is not,” Carric said, putting a hand on his wife’s leg. “It is not your fault you went into labor early. You kept her safe for seven months.”_

_Tanelia nodded. “Absolutely. This is neither of your faults. It is because of the two of you that she survived and made it back to Syngorn after her birth.”_

_“But what does this mean?” Carric asked, looking at two-year-old Arie, whom Meriele was clutching to her chest._

_For months after she was born, Arie seemed fine. Small, very small for an elf her age, but fine. It wasn’t until her first birthday that Carric and Meriele realized she wasn’t meeting the normal milestones for a child her age. She couldn’t grasp things well, she wasn’t pulling herself up on tables and trying to stand and walk. When she crawled, her arms did more of the work than her legs._

_By the time she was two, she’d managed to take a few steps, but stumbled and fell more often than seemed normal. She could grasp things, but not tightly, and nothing small._

_“It means what it means,” Tanelia said, sighing. “She’s made progress, so I believe she will continue to do so, just at a slower rate than other children. I believe that at some point, she will reach a plateau. The muscles in her legs are weak and tight. They will not support her weight, especially as she grows older._

_“As she reaches school age she may have difficulty learning. It’s hard to know at this point. Her speech seems slightly delayed, but not enough for concern at this point. It’s going to be difficult. Both for her and for you. But you can do it. There are devices, similar to a walking stick, that can be fashioned to help her walk.”_

_“What about spells?” Carric asked. “Aren’t there spells that can fix this?”_

_Tanelia nodded. “There are. And we can try them. But know that there is no guarantee.”_

_Carric reached out and smoothed Arie’s hair. Whatever it took, he would do for Arie._

“She’s like you, you know,” Carric said, looking from Meriele to Arie. “She’s got your personality.”

Meriele laughed. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“A good thing,” Carric said. “She needs your spirit and stubbornness to make it in this world.”

“My stubbornness drives you crazy,” Meriele said.

Carric smirked. “But on Arie, it’s a good thing. We should show her the tree tomorrow, on the way home.”

“The tree?” 

Carric sighed. “ _The_ tree. _Our_ tree.”

Meriele’s eyes widened. “Oh! We should. It’s not that far from here.”

“Won’t add that much more time, either. We’ll just get home after dark.”

Carric looked down at his sleeping daughter. She needed to see the tree. Without that tree, he and Meriele never would have met. Without that tree, Arie never would have been born.


	3. 3

“I thought we were going home,” Arie said as Carric lifted her into the back of the wagon.

“We are,” Carric said. “Just taking a short detour to see the tree. We’ll be home before you go to bed tonight.”

The tree was well off the beaten path through the Verdant Expanse, but Carric knew the forest. He knew exactly where to turn off and the exact way through the trees. He navigated the wagon through bushes, over rocks, and through a small stream, until they reached a point where the vegetation was too dense. 

“We’ll walk the rest of the way,” Carric said, hopping down from the wagon. “It’s a few miles. See? There’s the roots.” He pointed to the intricate root system poking up through the grass.

“It looks exactly the same,” Meriele said as she knelt down and ran her hand along the roots. 

Carric tied up the horses and gave them each a few pats. He then returned to the wagon to get Arie. He swung her onto his back and held tight onto her legs. 

“Meriele, grab her crutches,” Carric said. 

“Dad, I want to walk,” Arie said. 

“Maybe when we get closer,” Carric said. “There are a lot of rocks to climb over between here and there.” 

Carric set off, Meriele by his side, Arie on his back, and it was almost as if the past few hundred years never happened, and he and Meriele were tracking the roots for the first time. The only indication that any time at all had passed was Arie’s constant stream of chatter in Carric’s ear. 

They climbed over rocks, through tall grass, and over fallen trees as the midday sun began to fall in front of them. When they were about halfway there Arie’s chattering slowed and stopped and Carric felt her head drop onto his shoulder, her warm breath tickling his neck. 

Meriele had her bow out, just as she had on their first trek to the tree. But, as with their first trek, they had not come upon any ravagers or rogue animals. The Expanse was friendly today, with only the sound of birdsong and the wind for company. 

“It’s kind of fitting, us going to see the tree now,” Meriele mused. “We met here, Arie was born not far from here, and now...we’re accepting her for who she is.”

Carric nodded. “I thought so too.” 

He breathed in the piney scent of the forest. Syngorn was his home, but the Verdant Expanse was where Carric felt the most himself. 

They walked silently for the remaining miles, Meriele on watch for ravagers, Carric lost in his own thoughts, Arie’s weight pressing against his back. 

As they neared the tree, the bushes and grass cleared and the roots grew even more entangled, rippling up out of earth even more than before. Carric climbed carefully, his hands gripping Arie’s legs as tightly as they could. Meriele was ahead of him, moving lithely on her feet, her bow now slung across her back.

“Arie,” Carric said as he jostled Arie’s arms. “Wake up. We’re here.” 

_“There!” Carric called, climbing over one last fallen tree and running through the grass._

_Before him was the largest tree he’d ever seen in his life. It towered over the surrounding trees, easily a few hundred feet high. Its branches spread out over its neighbors, shielding them from the sun so that their leaves weren’t as green as they ought to have been._

_Carric ran toward it and recognized it immediately as a Hyperion, a type of redwood. When he saw the roots, he suspected that was the type of tree they belonged to, but hadn’t said anything to Meriele in case he was wrong. He turned toward her and she stood a few feet away, staring up into the branches, mouth open and bow down by her side._

_Turning from Meriele and back to the tree, Carric continued running until he reached it. Its trunk was enormous, so large it would’ve easily taken half a dozen people joining hands to surround it. Carric reached out to touch it, its bark rough beneath his fingers. He could only guess how old it was, and what it had seen during its life._

_Meriele joined him. “It’s gorgeous. I’ve been exploring the Verdant Expanse for decades and never came across it before.”_

_“Me, too,” Carric said. “I wonder if there are more like it.”_

_“We should search for them,” Meriele said._

_“What?” Carric asked, unsure he heard her correctly._

_“You heard me,” Meriele said. She slipped her hand into his and smiled up at him._

_Carric smiled back. Her hand was rough and warm. He could feel the callouses from shooting her bow. He gave her hand a squeeze._

_“Let’s do it,” he said._

Carric looked out at the only Hyperion tree in the Verdant Expanse. He and Meriele looked for years, but they never found another. This was the only one. He stepped over the last remaining rocks and set foot on the grass. Bending down, he lifted Arie off his back and set her on the ground. Meriele handed Arie her crutches and the three of them set off toward the tree.

“It’s gotten bigger,” Meriele said. 

“I think so,” Carric agreed.

“It’s huge!” Arie exclaimed as she rushed forward, stumbling a bit on the uneven ground. 

Carric watched as Arie reached the tree and spread her arms out to give it a hug. Her legs buckled slightly as her crutches lifted off the ground, but she shrieked with delight. 

“This tree,” Carric said, tousling her hair, “brought your mother and I together.” 

“I love it!” Arie said. “I’m going to see what it looks like on the other side.” She repositioned her crutches and set off to circle the tree.

“Stay close!” Meriele called after her.

“Do you miss it?” Carric asked.

“Miss what?” 

“Adventuring...when we found this tree and searched for others,” Carric explained. 

“A little,” Meriele said. “But I love the life we have now. That’s the thing about elves. We get to have dozens of lives in one. I only hope Arie gets that, too.”

“She will,” Carric said as Arie rounded the tree. “Look at her. Some day, years from now, she’s going to tell us that she’s going adventuring. And we will most likely tell her no. But we’ll have to remember this when that day comes. She’s got your spirit and that’s one that can’t stay shut in Syngorn forever.”

Meriele reached out and took Carric’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Carric squeezed back and gave her a smile. The two stepped back and watched Arie circle the tree, giggling and laughing, over and over again.


	4. The Wolf

“We should’ve left sooner,” Meriele said as they walked back to the wagon. “It’ll be nearly morning by the time we reach Syngorn.”

“I know, I know,” Carric said. She was right. The sun was nearly set, the moon was already peeking through the trees and they were only halfway back to the wagon. “But the horses will have rested all day, so they’ll be fine for the rest of the night.”

Meriele sighed. “You’d live in this forest if you could.”

“I’m not going to deny that,” Carric said, smirking.

“You’ll be back here soon enough. We’ll need more wood for the shop soon,” Meriele said.

The shop. They’d had to close for a full month to make the journey to Emon and back, as they’d done for the four other times they’d brought Arie to other cities in the hopes of a cure. It wasn’t great for business, but they had enough savings that they were able to do it. And if one of these trips had brought answers or a solution, it would’ve been well worth it. It still was worth it, Carric thought, to show Arie all of Tal’Dorei and the places he and Meriele had traveled in their youth. But now that she was reaching school age, it was time to be done.

Carric watched as Arie clambered over the rocks and logs ahead of them, he and Meriele intentionally slowing down their pace to match hers. 

“We still have to decide what we’re doing about school,” Carric said. “Most elves are in a learning group by the time they’re six.”

“I think we should keep her home,” Meriele said. “At least for another year or two. You’ve seen the way she struggles to read and write. We’ll continue teaching her ourselves. If she makes more progress, we can think about getting her into a group.”

“That makes sense,” Carric said. “But what if she doesn’t make progress? Doesn’t catch up to the other kids her age?”

“Then we keep teaching her ourselves,” Meriele said. “If she can’t keep up with them, why subject her to learning with them? I don’t know about your learning group, but the one I was in had us learning to read and write in common from the moment we joined. Arie struggles to read and write in Elvish.”

“You’ve got a point,” Carric said, watching as Arie tripped over a rock. “Arie, I’d really rather you let me carry you the rest of the way.”

“No!” she shouted stubbornly as she stood up. She turned to look at him. “You told me I could walk when we got close to the tree and then you didn’t let me. So I’m walking now.”

“You were asleep, Arie,” Carric pointed out.

Arie ignored him, continuing to climb over rocks and through bushes that were taller than she was. 

“She gets it from you, you know,” Carric said, smirking at Meriele. “Stubborn as an ox.” 

“It’ll serve her well in life,” Meriele said.

“It will,” Carric agreed. “All right, so we keep homeschooling her. We’ll reassess in a year and perhaps she can join the Llewellyn Group. The Miralar boys are in that one.” 

“Or another,” Meriele said. “That one is very magic heavy.”

“Right,” Carric said.

Arie, among her other issues, had yet to display any signs of magic, which was very strange for an elf. Tanelia Miralar suspected it was another byproduct of her traumatic birth and was unsure whether she would ever display magic. Even more peculiar, there were spells that simply did not seem to have any effect on Arie. Nor did she seem to ever want any spells cast upon her, no matter the type. It was as if the effects of the spells made her physically uncomfortable, although she was never able to describe it in words. 

“We’ll figure that out later. For now, we just keep teaching her ourselves,” Meriele said. 

They continued walking as the sun fully set and the moon rose. The rocks gave way to fallen trees which gave way to tall grass as they neared the road. The grass was tall, much taller than Arie and Carric lost sight of her every so often as she clambered through.

“Arie!” Carric called. “I’d really rather you-”

“Daddy, Mommy, there’s a dog in the woods!” Arie shouted.

Carric felt his stomach drop and he and Meriele exchanged a glance for half a second before they both charged forward. Arie was at the edge of the makeshift path, walking tentatively toward a dense clump of trees.

“Arie, no!” Carric shouted as he shot his hand forward to cast a shield spell in front of her.

But he wasn’t fast enough. He watched as a large, furry creature lunged forward and took hold of Arie’s arm, crutch and all. She screamed and collapsed to the ground as the animal shook its head, Arie’s arm still inside its mouth. The shield spell landed on both of them, dissipating immediately.

“Arie!” Meriele screamed as she started loosing arrows toward the creature.

Arrow after arrow sank into the animal’s back, but it didn’t seem to notice. Carric kept running but it felt as if he wasn’t getting any closer. He shot spell after spell at the animal as he went, making sure not to hit Arie in the process.

After what felt like ten minutes later, Carric finally reached them, Meriele right behind him. They were close enough now that Carric was able to make out the animal’s form. A wolf. He took a split second to glance at Catha in the sky, shedding enough light on the area that darkvision wasn’t even necessary. Catha was full. The second moon was also full, and as big as Catha. It was a blood moon. 

A wolf. The full moon.

Carric felt like he was going to throw up. He grabbed hold of Arie’s back and pulled, yanking her arm free from the wolf’s grasp while Meriele held it off with a spell. Arie was no longer screaming. Her face was ghostly white and blood flowed out of several bite marks along her right arm. He yanked off his cloak and pressed it onto the wounds. 

“Meriele, take her!” Carric shouted. He was the better wizard and this wolf -werewolf- wasn’t even noticing Meriele’s arrows. 

Meriele broke her concentration and ran to them, taking Arie from his arms. 

“Stop the bleeding and go to the horses. Leave the wagon and go to Syngorn. The Miralars. I’ll catch up after I deal with...this,” he said, wrapping both of them in the cloak and pressing part of it to Arie’s arm. 

Meriele nodded, her face almost as white as Arie’s. “Is she…”

“She’s alive,” Carric said. “But she needs healing spells. Fast. Do what you can and take her to the Miralars.”

The werewolf let out a snarl as it escaped Meriele’s spell and ran toward them. 

“Go!” Carric shouted.

Meriele took off, Arie in her arms, toward the wagon and horses. Carric watched them for a second before turning back to the wolf, his arm stretched out. He cast magic missile over and over and watched as the magical daggers pierced the wolf’s body.

It snarled, lunging toward him, and Carric cast a shield. He sent spell after spell at the wolf, concentrating all his energy, all his anger into his magic. It felt like nothing was working, nothing was doing any damage.

He sent another magic missile and the wolf finally yelped. It retreated a few feet and Carric looked into its amber eyes. He saw nothing human about this wolf, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was a werewolf. 

“Carric!”

Carric sent up a shield and paused, turning back toward the path. He saw Meriele, now mounted on the smaller of their horses, Arie bundled to his chest. 

“Meriele, go!”

“Carric, the spells aren’t working! She needs you. You’re a better wizard than I am!” Meriele shouted.

Carric looked back toward the wolf. It was wounded, but still very much alive. It would recover. The idea of the wolf that did this to his daughter remaining alive, living to do this to someone else, or to somehow find Arie once again, made him want to tear it limb from limb.

“Carric!” Meriele shouted again. Carric could hear the panic, the desperation in her voice.

He knew he had to decide. He could either kill this werewolf, or he could heal his daughter. 

He didn’t even have to think twice.

Carric let down his shield and sent one more magic missile toward the wolf. It yelped and turned on its heels, running back into the dense trees. Before he ran to Meriele and Arie, Carric noticed that its tail was too short, as if part of it had been chopped off.

Carric shook his head to clear it and ran back to Meriele. She slid off the horse and held Arie out to him.

Arie’s tiny body was shaking as blood continued to flow from her wounds. How much blood did she have? How much could she withstand losing? 

Carric held her close and muttered the healing spell under his breath. He felt his hands warm from the magic and felt the magic flow into Arie. He watched as the wounds began to knit together, the blood flow slowing and then stopping.

Meriele was shaking almost as badly as Arie, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

Arie remained unconscious and Carric held her tightly to his chest. 

“She’s alive,” Carric said. “And the wounds are healed. But that...that was a werewolf. We need to get her to the Miralars fast.” 

Meriele nodded and climbed onto the horse. Carric handed her Arie. 

“Go,” he said. “I’ll get the other horse and what I can from the wagon. I’ll catch up. Guernsey is faster than Merritt.” 

Meriele nodded once more and grabbed Merritt’s reins in one hand. With the other she held Arie close to her chest. 

Once they were gone, Carric turned back to the forest. He walked back to the very edge of the makeshift path, but there was no sign of the werewolf. Turning away, he trod on something on the ground.

Beneath his feet were Arie’s crutches. One, completely mangled. The other, scuffed but fine. Choking back a sob, Carric picked them both up and gripped them tightly. With one final glance into the trees, he ran down the path after Meriele and Arie.


	5. Half a Tail

Carric ran faster than he’d ever run in his life, faster even than when he was in the Verdant Guard. He didn’t stop until he reached the wagon. Guernsey was there, still hitched and pawing at the ground nervously. 

Carric gave him a quick pat then leapt into the wagon to grab what he could. He grabbed his bag, which contained years worth of notes from healers, wizards, and mages about Arie’s condition and slung it over his shoulder. He grabbed Meriele’s bag and slung it over his other shoulder. The rest he left. He would come back for the wagon later, assuming it wasn’t ransacked by ravagers. 

With shaking hands he unhitched Guernsey and climbed onto his back. He grabbed the reins and squeezed his legs against Guernsey’s sides, causing the horse to take off down the path toward Syngorn. Carric bent low over Guernsey’s neck, urging the horse faster. Without the wagon and Merritt slowing him down, Guernsey flew, kicking up dust and stone behind him.

Stupid, Carric thought to himself as he urged Guernsey onward. Staying the extra day and taking Arie to see the tree was stupid. Carric should’ve realized the full moon was that night, should’ve paid attention. Instead he got all caught up in the magic of the Verdant Expanse and didn’t think. He knew there were werewolves in the Verdant Expanse. 

He should’ve carried Arie the rest of the way to the wagon. Why had he let her walk? He’d felt uncomfortable with the idea from the moment she insisted on walking, yet he let her do it anyway. She was a child. It wasn’t her decision to make. It was Carric and Meriele’s. They were her parents and it was their job to keep her safe, even if she wasn’t happy about it. 

He should’ve reacted faster. Why had he taken so long to send out a shield charm? Why hadn’t he simply summoned Arie toward him by magic instead? He could’ve levitated her high above the wolf, giving it no chances of attacking her. 

Why had he even insisted upon going to Emon to see the archmage? Meriele knew it wouldn’t accomplish anything, and yet they went anyway. Meriele said it would be a waste of a trip. Meriele wanted to be done, wanted to accept Arie for who she was. It was Carric who insisted upon going. And if he hadn’t, if he’d simply accepted Arie for who she was sooner, this never would’ve happened. 

And why, of all people, did this have to be Arie? Arie, who already had a host of other issues. Arie, who already had to fight twice as hard for everything that came easily to others. Arie, who already would’ve been facing the challenge of being “different,” without lycanthropy thrown into the mix. Arie, who in her six short years, had faced more challenges than most elves ten times her age. 

Guernsey pressed on and they reached the top of the hill above Syngorn. Carric could see the city walls and light from within. A few hundred yards ahead of him, he could make out Merritt running toward the gates, Meriele and Arie on her back.

Carric pressed on and when they were fifty or so yards from the gates, he caught up with them. “How is she?” he asked immediately, slowing Guernsey down to match Merritt’s pace.

“The same,” Meriele answered, her voice shaking. “She hasn’t woken up.” 

They reached the gates and the Guardsmen on either side stepped in front of them, holding up their hands. For a split second, Carric thought about what they must be thinking, seeing two figures riding top speed on horseback in the dead of night toward Syngorn.

Carric slowed Guernsey and came to a stop in front of them. “Carric Siannodel,” he said hurriedly. “And my wife, Meriele.”

“Carric?” the Guardsman on the left said, peering at him. “Damn, figured you were going to attack us, given the way you were barreling toward the gates.”

The other Guardsman opened the gate and Carric hurried through, Meriele right behind him. He didn’t bother responding to the Guardsmen. 

It was a ten minute ride to the Miralars’ house and Carric ignored the stares of the other elves as they tore through the streets. He skirted the Market Ward, which would be crowded this time of night, and didn’t slow down until he reached the Miralars. 

Carric had already tied Guernsey to the fence when Merritt arrived with Meriele and Arie. Meriele handed Arie, still bundled in the cloak, to Carric and he ran to the door and banged on it. He hoped they were home. There were lights on. He continued banging until the door creaked open. Meriele, who had tied up Merritt, came running up behind him. 

In the doorway stood the Miralars’ younger son. Carric knew he wasn’t much older than Arie’s, but he was a foot taller than she was. Behind him was their elder son, who looked fifteen or sixteen. He looked suspicious.

“Elwin,” he said, “you have to look out the peephole and ask who it is. It’s the middle of the night.”

“Are your parents here?” Carric asked, clutching Arie tightly to his chest.

“Iefr, who is it?” called a voice from in the house.

“Tanelia?” Carric shouted, pushing past Elwin and into the house, Meriele right behind him. 

“What’s going on?” Iefr asked.

Carric ignored the boys and ran into the living room, nearly crashing into Tanelia who had been on her way to the door. 

“Carric? Meriele!” Tanelia said. “What’s-” Her eyes dropped to Arie, still in Carric’s arms, and her voice trailed off. 

“She was attacked,” Carric said, his voice catching.

“Faelar!” Tanelia shouted. “Exam room. Now.”

“What happened?” Iefr asked.

“Iefr, take your brother upstairs and don’t come down until I come get you. If your father is up there tell him to meet me in the exam room,” Tanelia said sharply.

“But-”

“Now,” she snapped.

Iefr nodded, grabbing Elwin’s arm and pulling him toward the stairs. The younger boy protested, but a sharp look from his brother shut him up.

Carric and Meriele followed Tanelia through the door that separated the Miralars’ house from their healing practice. She led them into their usual exam room, the same one they brought Arie to the day she was born, the same one they were in when Tanelia told them she would never walk normally.

Faelar caught up with them just as Tanelia was shutting the door. He opened it again and shut it behind him. 

“What happened?” Tanelia asked as she gently took Arie from Carric’s arms and laid her on the exam table.

“It was my fault-” Carric began.

“There’s no time for that,” Tanelia interrupted. “Just tell me what happened.”

“She was attacked,” Meriele said, her voice cracking. “By a werewolf.” 

“You’re sure it was a werewolf and not a regular wolf?” Tanelia asked as she unwrapped the cloak and examined Arie’s arm. 

“Positive,” Carric said. “It’s the eyes. They were...empty, almost as if the creature had no soul.”

“Werewolf,” Tanelia muttered. “Yes, you’re not the first to describe it like that. Carric, I assume you were the one to heal the wounds?”

“Yes,” Carric said. “Meriele tried, but the spells wouldn’t take.”

“You did a good job,” Tanelia said, pausing to murmur a few spells of her own. “She’ll have a nasty scar, but the tissue is repaired. Her vitals are what I would expect after something like this. Not quite normal, but not cause for concern. Mind you, her arm will hurt and ache for days, quite possibly weeks, after she wakes up. Werewolf bites are nasty.”

“She will...wake up, right?” Meriele asked.

Tanelia looked up from Arie, her eyes soft. “She will. She’s suffered quite a trauma tonight. This is her body’s way of healing. The best course of action is to allow her to wake up naturally and administer a few different healing potions from there. I’d like her to remain here until she does.”

“Of course,” Carric said. “But what...what about…” He couldn’t even bring himself to say it.

Tanelia exchanged a glance with Faelar before speaking. “The lycanthropy. Well...normally a simple ‘remove curse’ would be cast and that would be that. But with Arie….”

Carric sighed and sank down into a nearby chair. He put his head in his hands. This was all his fault. Because of a spur of the moment frivolous decision, his daughter would now possibly suffer from lycanthropy for the rest of her life. 

“We’ll cast the spell anyway,” Faelar announced. “There is a chance it will work. Arie isn’t resistant to all magic.” 

“And we’ll have to wait until the next full moon to find out if it worked?” Meriele asked.

“No,” Faelar answered. “We can test her blood, twenty-four hours after the spell is cast and the test will tell us if it worked.”

“Do it now, then,” Meriele said. “While she’s asleep. Then it won’t bother her.”

“Right,” Faelar said. “You do it, Tanelia. Your ‘remove curse’ spells are stronger than mine.”

Tanelia nodded and placed her hands on top of Arie’s still form. She murmured the words, waited a few seconds, then removed her hands.

“All we can do is wait,” Tanelia said, looking from Carric to Meriele. “I will go prepare the potions she will need to take as soon as she wakes up. Faelar, can you go check on the boys, then come back and assess Arie’s vitals again? Tell the boys nothing. You know the way Elwin worries. Just tell them a child was sick and is on the mend. That should satisfy Iefr’s curiosity.”

Faelar nodded, then left the room.

“She’s going to be fine,” Tanelia assured them, looking from Meriele to Carric. “And don’t blame yourselves. This was a freak accident. Even if she does have lycanthropy, there are ways of dealing with it. Potions to lessen the effects, that sort of thing. She can still lead a normal life.”

Tanelia left the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Carric got up from the chair and crouched by the exam table. Arie looked so still. She was the type of child who was always moving, even in her sleep. But now...she didn’t move at all. He looked down at her pale face and then at the bite marks that ran the length of her right arm. 

He reached out and smoothed her hair. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Arie...I am so, so sorry.”

Meriele walked up behind him and put an arm around his waist. “This isn’t your fault,” she said quietly.

“I’m going to find that werewolf,” Carric said, “and when I do, I’m going to finish him.”

“Carric, that’s unrealistic,” Meriele said. “How would you even know you’d found the right one?”

“He had half a tail,” Carric said. “There cannot be that many werewolves in Tal’Dorei with half a tail.”

“Carric,” Meriele said. 

Carric remained silent. He would kill that werewolf, if it took him the rest of his life. It was Carric’s choices that led Arie to be in that exact spot hours earlier, but it was the werewolf who attacked her. They were both to blame. Carric couldn’t turn back time and make better choices, but he could vow to end that werewolf’s life.


	6. Lycanthropy

Carric paced the small examination room all night. He paced until Meriele couldn’t take his pacing anymore and he sat in a chair and watched Arie instead. She was so peaceful, sleeping curled up underneath a blanket, her tiny body only taking up a fraction of the table. 

It wasn’t until the following night that Arie finally stirred. Carric was up in an instant and across the room at her side in another.

“Go get Tanelia,” he whispered to Meriele.

Meriele nodded and hurried out of the room.

Carric sat on the table and pulled Arie into his lap, smoothing her hair as he did so. She cracked her eyes open and looked up at him, confused. 

“D-daddy?” she asked.

“I’m here, Arie, I’m here,” Carric said quietly. “How do you feel?”

Arie winced, squeezing her eyes shut again. “It hurts.”

“What hurts?”

“M-my arm,” Arie mumbled. 

Carefully, Carric turned Arie’s arm over in his hand, pulling up the sleeves of her shirt. The wounds were healed, but the scars fresh. Angry red lines went the length of her arm, from her hand all the way up to her shoulder.

Arie looked at her arm and began to cry. Carric held her shaking body to his own, rocking her gently. “You’re okay, Arie, you’re okay,” he said, even though he wasn’t sure he believed it himself.

The door opened and Tanelia burst inside, followed by Faelar and Meriele. Meriele rushed toward them and sat down next to Carric, putting her hand on top of Arie’s head. 

“She’s awake,” Carric said. 

Tanelia nodded and busied herself pouring potions into goblets. She carried the potions over to the bed and handed them to Meriele. “She needs to drink all three. Healing, pain, blood replenishing.”

Meriele nodded and held the first one out to Arie. “Arie, dear, you need to drink these.”

Arie took a sip of the first one, then coughed, spitting it out on top of the blanket, and cried even harder. 

Tanelia sighed and looked from Meriele to Carric. “It’ll have to be spells, then.”

Carric turned Arie around so she was facing him. “Arie, the potions are going to make you feel better. You have to drink them, otherwise you’ll need spells.”

Arie’s eyes widened and she nodded. “Ok-kay.”

Meriele held the potions out to Arie once more and this time she swallowed all three, coughing only slightly when she was done. 

Faelar cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s...time. I’m going to have to take her blood.”

Carric exchanged a look with Meriele and then looked at Faelar. Faelar stood still and stony faced. He met Carric’s gaze, then reached into a drawer and pulled out a needle and syringe.

“Arie,” Carric whispered to his daughter. “Faelar has to take a bit of your blood for a test. It’ll only hurt for a little.”

Arie whimpered and buried her face deeper into Carric’s chest. Carric nodded at Faelar.

Faelar knelt down in front of Carric and Arie and carefully took Arie’s right arm out of the blanket. She was shaking so hard Faelar could hardly hold her arm still. Arie let out a loud scream and he let go.

“Perhaps the other arm?” Carric suggested, working Arie’s non-injured arm out of the blanket. 

Faelar nodded. “Right. I’ll be quick.” He steadied Arie’s arm with one hand and with the other, swiftly stuck the needle into her vein with the speed of someone who’s done it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Arie let out another cry, this one muffled by Carric’s tunic. 

Quickly, he stood and deposited the blood into a vial. He looked at Carric and Meriele. “We should know in an hour.” 

It was, perhaps, the most agonizing hour of Carric’s life. He sat on the examination table holding Arie as tightly as he dared, rocking her until her muffled cries turned into the soft breathing of a child in a deep sleep. The spell had to work, he thought, it just had to. How could his six-year-old daughter turn into a werewolf once a month? Would she even survive a transformation? 

The hour dragged by. For an elf, an hour was nothing, but not this hour. And yet, when Faelar finally opened the door and walked back in the room, Carric felt it had gone too soon. He didn’t want to know. Didn’t think he could bear to hear the answer.

And the answer was written all over Faelar’s face. Normally stoic and unreadable, Faelar Miralar looked visibly upset. His eyes were cast down, unable to look Carric in the eye. He first looked at Tanelia, who let out a small gasp before Faelar even said anything.

“It didn’t work,” Carric said quietly.

“No, it did not,” Faelar said.

Meriele let out a sob and quickly covered her mouth, glancing at Arie, but she didn’t wake up.

“I can only speculate that this has something to do with Arie’s resistance to magic. I can’t say I have much experience with casting Remove Curse for this purpose and it is entirely possible that better mages than I know other spells that might work. I can give you a few names if you’d like to try,” Faelar said.

“We’d just...we’d just agreed to stop dragging her all over Tal’Dorei,” Meriele said quietly. “No more looking for cures. We’ve accepted this is who she is.”

“This is different, Meriele,” Carric said, looking down at Arie. “Lycanthropy is different. Faelar, can she even survive a transformation?”

“Wolfsbane will lessen its effects,” Faelar said, “but it will be rough, especially the first few. At the very least she is going to be exhausted for days afterward. But survive it? I believe she will. It’s rare for anyone to survive a werewolf attack and then succumb to a transformation.”

“Rare, but not impossible,” Carric said. “And Arie has quite the collection of rare but not impossible ailments.”

Faelar said nothing for a few moments, then sat down in the chair across from the examination table. “Carric,” he said quietly.

Carric looked up at Faelar. His stony face had returned.

“The transformations themselves are the least of your worries,” Faelar said.

“I know,” Carric said, holding Arie even tighter. “We have to hide this.”

“You do.” Faelar nodded. “Tanelia and I will keep it a secret, of course. But if it ever gets out…”

Carric exchanged a look with Meriele. “It won’t,” he said. “It can’t. We’ll conceal it.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Meriele added. 

Carric nodded. He knew if word ever got out that Arie had lycanthropy, she would be driven out of Syngorn. Werewolves were not welcome in Syngorn, nor many other cities in Tal’Dorei. Carric knew very little about the condition, but knew most lycanthropes chose to live on their own or in packs in the forests. He didn’t want that for Arie. She was a child and she needed her parents. 

“I will teach you to brew Wolfsbane,” Tanelia said. “I have only brewed it twice, but it is your best option. You cannot go to an apothecary in Syngorn and ask for Wolfsbane. Word would spread within half an hour.” 

“Meriele can do it,” Carric said. “She is better than me with potions.”

“When can we take her home?” Meriele asked. 

“You can take her home now,” Faelar said, getting up from his chair. “Bring her back tomorrow for another round of potions or if something doesn’t seem quite right. I imagine she will sleep for most of the next couple of days.”

“Thank you,” Carric said as he stood up.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t help more,” Tanelia said. “Keep the blanket.”

Carric nodded and tucked the blanket tighter around Arie. “We will see you tomorrow.”

Faelar and Tanelia followed Carric, Meriele, and Arie out of the examination room, down the hall, and back into the Miralar house. Their older son jumped back from the door as they emerged.

“Iefr,” Faelar scolded. “You know the rule about eavesdropping.”

“Sorry,” the boy muttered, scurrying into the other room, where the younger boy was making a tower with wooden logs. 

Carric and Meriele said goodbye to Faelar and Tanelia and left the house. The sun was setting and the streets were significantly more crowded than they had been when they arrived. Carric could hardly believe only a day had passed, yet it seemed as if many days had passed at the same time.

They reached their horses and Carric paused, looking at Meriele, before climbing onto Guernsey. “How are we going to explain this to Arie?” he asked quietly.

Meriele squeezed her eyes shut then opened them again. They were wet. “I don’t know, Carric. I just don’t know.”


	7. The Verdant Expanse

It took three days for Arie to recover enough to do more than wake up long enough to drink a little bit of water and take her potions. Three days of pacing at Arie’s bedside, only leaving when Meriele pressed him to take a break. They kept the shop closed, causing speculation and rumors amongst the other merchants in the Tarn Ward. The most pervasive and accurate of rumors was that Arie was sick and it had something to do with her legs. 

Carric let them think what they wanted. It was better than them knowing the truth. They could never know the truth. Best they think she’s sick and even better they think it has something to do with her legs. The best lies have their basis in truth. 

Carric opened the door to the shop, shut it, and locked it behind him. He walked through the showroom, noting the fine layer of dust that had formed over the past six weeks. He was eager to get back to work, but couldn’t fathom it until he knew Arie was going to be okay.

Hurrying through the back room and up the stairs to the second floor, Carric thought about hiding Arie’s lycanthropy, here, in the middle of the Tarn Ward in Syngorn. Syngorn, the city that came alive at night. Here, above The Whimsical Crate, while people shopped at night. 

Carric unlocked the door and walked into the kitchen, setting a bag of pastries down on the counter, then hurried through the living room and into Arie’s bedroom. 

Before she was born, Carric and Meriele decorated Arie’s room in an enchanted forest theme, making all the furniture themselves, out of wood they’d gathered in the Verdant Expanse. It was all rustic, still looking very similar to the trees it all came from. The walls were decorated with forest murals featuring foxes, owls, and rabbits. Not much had changed about it since Arie was born, except Carric had made her a bed to replace the crib a few years earlier. The bed was still comically huge for her, but she loved it.

Meriele sat on the bed, Arie asleep in her lap. Meriele looked up as Carric came inside.

“I got pastries,” Carric said quietly. 

“She just fell back asleep,” Meriele whispered. 

Carric ran a hand through his hair. “I think...I think we need to talk...before we talk to Arie.”

Meriele nodded and slid Arie off her lap and covered her with the blanket. She followed Carric out of the room and into the kitchen. 

Carric opened the bag of pastries and offered one to Meriele. She shook her head. Carric took one for himself and bit into it. Strawberry filling. Arie’s favorite. He set it down.

“Sariandi in the bakery asked about her,” Carric said as he sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. “Everyone seems to think she just took a turn for the worse. None of them understand it in the first place.”

“Carric, we hardly understand it,” Meriele pointed out. “She’s never been….”

“Normal?” Carric said.

“You know I hate that word,” Meriele said.

“I do, too,” Carric said. “Typical. She’s never been typical. Point is, I haven’t squashed those rumors. I think it best-”

“That they think what they’re thinking,” Meriele finished. “Better than them knowing the truth.”

Carric nodded. “We’re on the same page, then. But how do we hide this? How do we expect Arie, a six year old, to hide this?”

Meriele sighed and sat down across from him. “I don’t know, but what other choice do we have? This can’t get out.”

“I know,” Carric snapped. “Sorry. I just...I don’t see how this can work. I hate that I couldn’t protect her from this.”

“Carric, it was a freak accident,” Meriele said quietly. “And focusing on that night will do nothing to help us now. We can do this. We’re hundreds of years old. We’ve handled worse.”

“I’d fight ten dragons over having to tell my daughter she’s a werewolf,” Carric said. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “You’re going to think I’m crazy for thinking this, but...maybe Syngorn isn’t the right place for us anymore.”

Meriele raised an eyebrow. “What? You want us to run away?”

“Not run away, exactly...just live somewhere where our daughter won’t be an outcast. Where she won’t have to hide who she is.”

“There is nowhere in Tal’Dorei where she can live openly as a lycanthrope, unless we want to live in a werewolf pack ourselves,” Meriele said.

Carric smirked. “Your High Elf is showing, honey.”

Meriele rolled her eyes and sighed. “You know that’s not how I meant it. There isn’t a city in Tal’Dorei where we wouldn’t have to keep this a secret and we’ve become city people. Honestly, Carric, I’ve done the adventuring life and it was fun. But we have the Crate, we have our friends, we have our lifestyle here, in Syngorn. And if we were to uproot to Emon or Westruun, it would be the same. Hiding who she is.”

Carric sighed and got up. He began pacing the kitchen. “I’m not only talking about the lycanthropy, Meriele. Even if this never happened she would still be an outsider here. No magic. Her legs the way they are. Her lack of fine motor skills. There are...other places in Tal’Dorei that are more tolerant of things like that.”

“I know Syngorn isn’t the most tolerant of places, Carric, but it’s home,” Meriele said quietly. “And is uprooting Arie from all she’s known really the best choice in the midst of all this?”

“I don’t know,” Carric said. “And I don’t think there are any right answers.”

“I don’t think so either,” Meriele said. “Where would we go? Arie certainly got plenty of funny looks in Emon and Westruun when we were there.”

Carric shook his head. “No, I agree. The larger cities will only be marginally more tolerant than Syngorn.”

“Name a single small village we’ve traveled through where Arie hasn’t gotten a single funny look or inappropriate question,” Meriele said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’m not arguing with you,” Carric said. He paused at the counter to take another bite of the strawberry pastry. “But hear me out. This is just an idea. I’m not saying we have to do it.”

Meriele raised her eyebrows. “You’re scaring me, Carric.”

Carric returned to his seat. “A few hundred years ago, when I was out adventuring before I met you I heard rumors of a monastery way up North-”

“Sorry, did you just say a monastery?” Meriele asked. 

“Yes,” Carric said. 

“You are proposing that we live in a monastery?” Meriele asked. “That we give up everything about our lives to live in a monastery?”

“Let me explain,” Carric said. “This is no ordinary monastery. It’s a...a refuge for people who are different, including those with disabilities. Other people like Arie. I gather they either cannot afford or do not wish to use magic to...I don’t want to use the term ‘fix…’” 

Meriele’s mouth fell open and her eyes grew large. “Such a place exists?”

“Rumored to, yes,” Carric said. “I just wonder if it would be better for her to grow up somewhere where she’s not the only one. Or even simply someplace that was built with some accommodations for her. Did you ever notice how many stairs are in Syngorn? And how much Arie struggles with stairs?”

Meriele closed her eyes. “Yes, I have. But Carric, she’s a High Elf. Despite all else, she’s still a High Elf. She’ll lose her culture if she grows up elsewhere.” 

“It’s just an idea,” Carric said. “I’ve never been there so it is entirely possible the place is a rumor or no longer exists.”

Meriele nodded. “It’s not a bad idea, Carric...but…”

“What is it?” Carric asked.

Meriele rubbed her eyes. They were red when she removed her hands. “I worry. Everyday I worry about her. We still know virtually nothing about what it is that makes her the way she is. Birth defects, the Miralars say, but what if more is coming? What if she gets worse? What if the lycanthropy interacts strangely with whatever else she has going on and it morphs into something even worse?”

Carric got up and sat next to his wife. Her hands were shaking. Carric put his own over hers to steady them. 

“She needs to be near healers we can trust. What if we were to go to this monastery in the North and something were to happen and the Miralars were two months’ travel away?” Meriele asked.

Carric sighed. “I had not thought of that.” 

“She needs stability and she needs, we need, people we can trust. The Miralars are those people,” Meriele said. 

Carric nodded. “Okay. We stay. But we need a plan on how we’re going to deal with this.”

Meriele rubbed her eyes once more and nodded. “Right. Yes. We make it clear with Arie that she can’t tell anyone.”

“More than that,” Carric said, getting up. “She can’t transform here, above the shop, when the shop is open.”

“So we close it every full moon,” Meriele said.

“That would be too suspicious. It wouldn’t take long for someone to figure out the Whimsical Crate is closed every full moon. No...I think we compromise. We technically stay in Syngorn, keep the shop and everything, but we move to the Verdant Expanse. Buy a bunch of land, build a house. An accessible house for Arie. It’s not practical for her to be climbing the stairs to the second floor here much longer. She begs me to carry her every time.”

“Me too,” Meriele said. “Okay. That could...that could work. No one would think that suspicious, us building a house that’s more accessible for Arie outside the city. There’s nowhere left to build inside the city.”

“Exactly,” Carric agreed. 

“Right. We have a plan. We’ll get land and we’ll start building,” Meriele said. 

Carric nodded. “That was the easy part. Now we’ve got to explain all this to Arie.”

Meriele put her head in her hands.

Carric sighed. He would take those ten dragons right about now.


	8. Still Arie

Carric put it off. He put off explaining to his six-year-old daughter that she was now, in addition to the half dozen other struggles in her life, plagued with lycanthropy. Meriele didn’t push it. Without discussing it, Carric was somehow taking the lead on this, as Meriele took the lead on learning to brew Wolfsbane Potion. Every day she went to the Miralars’ for lessons, leaving Carric behind to nurse Arie back to health.

It took a full week for Arie to recover and even then her arm hurt too much to do anything with it. The pain made her fine motor skills even worse, leaving her frustrated and having to do everything with her left hand instead. Tanelia was confident Arie’s arm would return to normal, the long scar the only visible souvenir from the attack. 

While Arie slept, Carric carved her a new set of crutches. He fiddled with the design and came up with a new idea for crutches that would grow with her. The crutches themselves each contained two pieces, one of which slid into the other and would thus extend the crutches, held in place by pegs. 

But lingering at the back of his mind, and surely the back of Meriele’s as she brewed Wolfsbane, was the fact that in only three weeks Arie would have her first transformation. And before that happened, Carric and Meriele had to explain exactly what had happened. 

Carric sat next to Arie in her bed, reading her a story about a fairy who couldn’t fly, Meriele on Arie’s other side. Carric had one arm around his daughter and the other holding the book. Arie’s head rested on his shoulder as she looked at the pictures. 

“And they all lived happily ever after,” Carric said, sighing as he closed the book. Would Arie ever get a ‘happily ever after?’

He glanced at Meriele, who nodded.

“Arie,” he said quietly. “We have to talk about what happened in the woods last week.”

“When the big dog bit me?” Arie asked, her blue eyes wide. 

Carric looked at her eyes and frowned slightly. There was something different about them, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. They were still their usual icy blue, but it was almost as if something was lurking deep inside them. 

“Yes,” Carric said. 

“I just wanted to see him. He’s the biggest dog I’ve ever seen,” Arie said. “But really scary.”

“He wasn’t a dog, Arie,” Carric said. 

Meriele took Arie’s right hand in hers. 

Arie furrowed her brow. “What was he?” 

“A...a werewolf,” Carric said quietly. “A man who turns into a wolf on the full moon.”

“B-but, but…” Arie began, “those are j-just in stories.”

“They aren’t,” Carric said. 

“B-but D-daddy,” Arie sobbed, “wh-what if he c-comes b-back?” She buried her head in his chest.

Carric hugged her tightly and looked at Meriele. He gently pulled Arie away from her and looked her in the eyes. 

“Arie,” he said quietly. “He won’t ever come back for you again. I killed him. I killed him and buried his body in the woods.”

He looked up at Meriele, who nodded. 

“O-okay,” Arie stuttered. “G-good.”

Carric sighed. That was the easy part. And he wasn’t lying, either, because that werewolf would be dead and buried soon enough. Carric would make sure of that.

“Arie...because you were bitten by a werewolf...that means you are now a werewolf. It’s...it’s like getting sick,” Carric said, his heart pounding fast.

“Wh-what?” Arie asked. “B-but that means...that m-means....that I...that I…”

“Will turn into a wolf every full moon,” Carric finished. 

“No!” Arie shouted. “No, I c-can’t! Y-you have to f-fix it! L-Lia has to f-fix it!”

Carric squeezed his eyes shut as Arie used her toddler nickname for Tanelia. When she was having trouble learning to talk, Arie abbreviated almost every word and name to something shorter. Tanelia became Lia.

“She tried,” Carric said, hugging Arie close to him. “She and Faelar both tried, but the magic doesn’t work right with you. You know that. It’s why magic feels so uncomfortable for you. 

Arie sobbed into Carric’s chest and he rocked her. He looked up at Meriele. Tears were silently running down her cheeks. 

“Maybe we should stop for tonight,” she said quietly.

“No,” Carric said, setting Arie down between them. “She has to know. She has to understand.” 

“D-Daddy I d-don’t w-want to!” Arie shouted. 

“Arie, honey,” Meriele said, pulling Arie into her lap. “You have to listen to what Daddy has to say. It’s really important.”

Carric took a deep breath. “You’re going to be fine. Mommy is going to make you a potion that will make you sleepy and you won’t even remember it the next day. And we will both be right here with you the whole time.”

“W-will it hurt?” Arie asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

It took Carric a moment to understand her. Her speech was always more garbled when she was upset. 

“It might, at first,” Carric said. “But when you wake up in the morning you’ll be yourself again. This is only one night out of the month. You’re still Arie. You’re still an elf. That has not changed.”

Arie nodded. “I’m s-still Arie.”

“You’re still Arie,” Carric repeated. “But, this is something you only talk about with us, with Mommy and Daddy. And Faelar and Tanelia. That’s it. No one else can know.”

“Wh-why?” Arie asked.

Carric sighed. How could he condense the centuries of prejudice and discrimination lycathropes faced into something a six-year-old could understand? And in a way that didn’t make her too frightened? 

“Because sometimes people are afraid of what’s different,” Meriele said. “Remember what we always say when the other elves give you weird looks for using your crutches or not being able to walk up and down stairs very well?”

Arie nodded. “Because they d-don’t understand.”

“Exactly,” Meriele said. “And it’s the same with lycanthropy. That’s the big word for what you now have. And it’s what we’ll use. We’re not going to call you a werewolf because you’re still an elf. You’re still Arie. You are just an elf with lycanthropy.”

“Like being sick,” Arie said. 

“Yes. Except this is something we can’t make go away. We can make it better with potions, but that is it,” Meriele explained. 

“But the other elves know about my legs,” Arie said. “They see it.”

“That’s true,” Meriele said. “But lycanthropy is just a little different. Some people, like the one who bit you, aren’t careful and attack other people. That is not going to happen with you because the potion will keep you from doing that-”

“I c-could attack s-someone?” Arie asked, her voice tiny again.

“If you don’t take the potion, yes,” Carric said. “But you’ll take the potion and that won’t happen.”

“Right,” Meriele agreed. “But because not everyone with lycanthropy is careful, a lot of other people are scared and when people are scared they don’t act...rational.”

“What’s that?” Arie asked.

“They don’t think before they do something,” Meriele said. 

“B-but what if I d-do tell s-someone?” 

“You can’t,” Carric said sharply. “You have to conceal it. We all do. Arie, this is extremely important. No one can know.”

“O-okay,” Arie whispered. “But...d-does this mean I’m b-bad? Like the w-werewolf who bit me?”

“No,” Carric said as he wrapped Arie in another hug. “Absolutely not. Like your mother explained, you’re still Arie. Lycanthropy is not who you are. You are Arie Siannodel, Syngornian Elf. Do you understand that?”

Arie nodded. “I h-have ly-ly…”

“Lycanthropy,” Carric said again.

“Ly-lycanthropy. But it’s not who I am. I’m Arie,” Arie finished.

“Exactly,” Carric said. “Exactly.”

Meriele wiped her eyes and wrapped her arms around Arie as well. The three of them stayed like that for a full minute before Carric let them go.

“We have some exciting news, too,” he said, looking at Meriele. 

Arie’s eyes widened and she smiled for the first time in days. “What?” 

“We are going to move out of the city,” Carric said. “I bought some land in the Verdant Expanse and your mother and I are going to build us a house there.”

Arie’s smile disappeared. “B-but that’s wh-where-”

“He won’t hurt you again,” Carric said. “I promise.”

“H-he’s dead,” Arie said. 

“That’s right,” Carric confirmed. “But Arie, you are going to love the new house. It’s not going to have any stairs.”

Arie grinned. “Really?”

“Really,” Carric said. “We’re building this house for you. We’ll still work in the shop, but we will live in our new house.”

Arie wrapped her arms around him. “Thanks, Daddy,” she said.

Carric hugged her back and looked at Meriele. She looked as worried as Carric felt. Arie didn’t need to know that her lycanthropy was the real reason they were building this house. Carric was glad Arie was excited about the house and glad she wasn't focusing on the lycanthropy, but everything, their entire livelihood, was riding on Arie keeping her lycanthropy concealed.


	9. A Fighter

“I wish we had the house finished,” Carric said as he locked the shop door and turned to Meriele. Arie was asleep in his arms and he hitched her up a little higher on his hip.

“Me, too,” Meriele agreed, “but even you can’t build an entire house in three weeks.” 

Carric wished that weren’t the case. In the past three weeks he’d secured the land and laid the foundation, but he needed more wood for the next steps and didn’t want to travel too far before Arie’s first transformation. 

“It’s only one full moon,” Meriele continued. “No one will suspect a thing. It’s a pattern of full moon closures that would arouse suspicions.” 

Carric nodded and walked to the other side of the room to join his wife. “Right. No one is suspicious. They all just think she’s sick.”

The combination of the sheer length of time it had taken Arie to recover from the attack and the fact that her right arm was only just becoming functional enough for Arie to use her crutches again only fed the rumors floating around Syngorn that Arie Siannodel had some sort of rare disease. Her lack of ability to use her crutches meant Carric or Meriele had to carry her everywhere since she could no longer walk without them. Some people seemed to think the disease was new while others believed it to be related to her birth defects. Either way, most of the other residents of Syngorn seemed to regard Arie with a sort of morbid curiosity slightly more intense than they had before. Carric didn’t like the curiosity, but he was happy lycanthropy was far from anyone’s mind. 

Earlier, the three had gone to the Miralars’ house for one final pre-full moon checkup and to get the Wolfsbane Tanelia had brewed. Meriele’s skills at brewing Wolfsbane were getting better, but she needed more practice before Arie could take one of her potions. 

“They’re not wrong,” Meriele said. “Lycanthropy is a disease. Turning into a werewolf is a symptom.” 

“Right,” Carric said, nodding. 

“It certainly looks like she’s sick,” Meriele said, resting the back of her hand on Arie’s forehead. “She’s warm. Is that normal?”

“Yes. Remember what Faelar said? A wolf’s body temperature is a few degrees above an elf’s. It feels like a fever to her for now, but it’s just her body getting...getting ready.”

Meriele sighed. “We’d better go upstairs. She needs to take the potion.”

Carric nodded then carried Arie through the back room and up the stairs to their living quarters above. He carried Arie to her bedroom while Meriele closed all the curtains. He laid her down on the bed and shook her gently.

“Arie, you need to wake up,” he said quietly.

Arie turned toward him and stretched, opening her eyes. She winced and her whole body trembled. “Daddy?” she asked groggily.

Meriele entered the room carrying a glass filled to the brim with Wolfsbane. 

“Arie, you need to take this potion,” Carric said, taking the glass from Meriele. “Remember? This is the one that will make you sleepy tonight.”

Arie winced again and buried her head in the pillow. “It h-hurts. I d-don’t want to turn into a w-wolf!”

“I know you don’t, but we can’t change it now,” Carric said. “We can make it better with this potion. You need to drink it all.” 

Arie sat up and reached for the potion, but her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t grasp it. Carric held it for her and she gulped it down, coughing every so often. A bit of potion wound up on her shirt. 

“Do you think she got enough?” he asked Meriele as he set the glass on the bedside table.

“Plenty,” Meriele said. “That was a full dose and she’s so small.” 

Arie laid back against the pillow and let out a cry. “It hurts!” she wailed.

“I know,” Carric said as he rubbed her head. “It’ll be over soon.” 

“You should ward the room,” Meriele said quietly. “So no one can hear.”

“Right,” Carric said, getting off the bed. 

Arie grabbed his arm, her hand shaking so much it was more of a touch than a grab. Carric stopped and looked at her. She looked terrified and it broke his heart.

“D-don’t go!” she cried.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Carric assured her. “I just need to cast a few spells.”

He let go of Arie and moved to the walls, where he cast a silencing charm on each corner of the room. When he reached the window he paused and opened the curtains a crack to look at the sky. On the horizon he could just make out the edge of the moon peeking over the treetops. Catha. The larger of the two moons and the one whose phases now controlled his daughter’s life. He closed the curtains and cast one more silencing charm before returning to Arie’s bedside. 

“Anytime now,” he said quietly. “It’s just beginning to rise.” 

Meriele knelt down next to him. They each held one of Arie’s hands in their own and whispered to her, assuring her that everything would be okay. It felt like her hands were burning up as her body temperature reached that of a wolf’s. She shook uncontrollably as her bones and muscles prepared to shift.

“Is this shaking...normal?” Carric asked. “Or is it an Arie thing?”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to ask Tanelia,” Meriele said.

Carric squeezed his eyes shut. He could hardly take this. Part of him wanted to run into the other room and scream. Another part of him wanted to punch the wall. But the last part of him knew he had to stay right there at Arie’s side. 

He and Meriele sat, unmoving, as they waited. Arie trembled and cried and pleaded with them to not transform. Carric wished more than anything that he could take her place, that it was he who encountered the werewolf in the woods. 

As the first ray of moonlight shone through the crack in between the curtains, Arie let out a loud scream. Carric and Meriele both let go of her hands as her whole body contorted and she curled up into a ball on the bed. 

Carric watched in horror as his daughter’s arms and legs transformed into those of a wolf’s. With each crack and pop of her bones he winced. He suppressed his own gasps and screams as white blonde fur sprouted over her entire body and she grew a tail. He had to look away when he saw her face, full of confusion and terror, as his own eyes filled with tears.

When he looked back, Arie was no longer on the bed. In her place was the smallest, blondest wolf he’d ever seen in his life. It couldn’t have been much bigger than a beagle. The wolf sat up and cocked its head, looking at Carric and Meriele. It let out a whine and raised one of its paws toward them.

Carric looked at Meriele, whose own tears had spilled out of her eyes. Hesitantly, he reached out to the wolf and pressed his hand to its outstretched paw. The fur was soft and warm. 

Kneeling down, Carric looked into the wolf’s eyes, but Arie was no longer there. Her ice blue eyes were now the amber gold eyes of a wolf. 

The wolf let out another whine and yawned. It pawed at the bedding, then curled up with its tail across its face and went to sleep.

“Arie?” Meriele asked hesitantly.

Carric took her hand. “That’s not Arie. Not for now. Arie will be back in the morning.”

Meriele nodded. “You’re right. Arie will be back in the morning.” 

***

The wolf slept all night. Carric did not. He paced the room until Meriele told him he was driving her crazy. He then paced the living room. 

The wolf did not wake up until just before the moon set. Carric had returned to Arie’s room and he and Meriele were sitting and watching when the wolf woke up with a start. It ran in a few circles on the bed, then whined, looking at Carric and Meriele. 

“Here we go,” Carric said quietly. 

Meriele took his hand and squeezed it. 

The wolf let out a howl then began whining again. It laid down and began to pant. 

Carric got up from the chair and went over to the bed. Slowly, he reached out and gave the wolf a gentle pat on the head. It licked his hand, then whined.

“Carric-” Meriele began.

“It’s okay,” Carric interrupted. “Arie will be back any minute.”

As if on cue, the same popping and cracking that had turned Arie into this wolf last night began again, her arms and legs slowly turning back to normal. Carric grabbed her hand as soon as it was elf again and held it tight as all the fur withdrew back into her skin and her body returned to its normal shape. 

The last parts of her to turn back into Arie were her eyes. Carric watched as the amber receded and the ice blue returned, but they weren’t as they had been. Whereas before Arie’s eyes had been a pure ice blue, there were now amber-gold flecks scattered throughout them. 

“Why won’t they turn back all the way?” Meriele asked.

“I don’t know,” Carric said. “But no one will notice. You can only tell up close.”

Arie let out a cry, this one purely elf and no longer wolf. Carric gathered her up in a blanket and held her to his chest.

“I’m here,” he said quietly. “Mommy and Daddy are here. It’s all over.”

“I d-don’t-” Arie began.

“Shhh,” Carric said. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”

“We’d better go,” Meriele said.

Carric nodded and stood. The three left the house and hurried to the Miralars’. 

It was early morning, a time when most elves were meditating, so they came across no one as they rode on horseback through the streets of Syngorn toward the Miralars’ house. Carric left Meriele to tie up the horses and ran up the steps and rapped on the door.

The smaller of the two boys opened it again, clearly not remembering what he’d been told a month ago. He frowned when he saw Carric, his eyes resting on Arie still bundled up against his chest.

“You were here last month,” he said, tilting his head. 

“Yes, yes,” Carric said. “Can you go get your parents?”

“Elwin!” Tanelia shouted as she emerged in the hall beyond the door. “What did I tell you- Oh, Carric. Come in, come in.” She hurried to the door and ushered Carric and Arie inside, shooing Elwin into the other room in the process. “Go, Elwin. Go find something to do.”

“But Mom-”

“Go!” Tanelia shouted. 

“Is she still sick-”

“Now, Elwin!” Tanelia said, her voice lower, but firmer. “Go find Iefr.”

Elwin sighed and headed toward the stairs. Carric noticed he didn’t quite make it up the whole flight before sitting down and hiding in the shadows.

By then Meriele had finished with the horses and had caught up. They followed Tanelia through the door leading to the clinic and into the same examination room they were a month ago. The same one they were in after Arie was born. 

Carric carefully set Arie, who had fallen asleep on the horse ride over, down on the table and waited while Tanelia examined her. His heart felt ready to thump right out of his chest. Arie had to be okay.

Finally, Tanelia turned to face them. “She’s fine,” Tanelia said. “Exhausted, but fine. I know I’ve said this at least a hundred times, but she’s a fighter. She survived being born months early in the middle of the woods, she’s survived with the birth defects she has as a result of that, she survived the werewolf attack, and she’ll survive this. 

“I imagine she’ll sleep much of the day, but her body will acclimate to the transformations and while they’ll always leave her somewhat tired, it is my guess that the aftermath will get better with time. All went well last night? With the potion?”

Carric nodded as he breathed a sigh of relief. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at Tanelia. “She screamed a lot. She kept telling us how much it hurt right before. And she kept trembling. We were wondering if all that is normal or if it’s because of…”

“Her muscle issues?” Tanelia supplied. “It’s hard to say. I am by no means an expert on lycanthropy, although I’ve been studying it for the past month like I studied when I was at the Spires. Transformations are painful. Wolfsbane lessens it to some degree, but there is no getting rid of the pain altogether, unfortunately. You can try giving her the potion earlier next month. Perhaps an hour before moonrise rather than half an hour. It might help.”

“We’ll do that,” Carric said.

“Any other questions?” Tanelia asked. 

“Her eyes,” Tanelia said. “They didn’t completely change back. They’ve always been blue but turned gold when she became the...the wolf. And now there are still little bits of gold in them.”

Tanelia frowned and looked down at Arie. “Arie,” she whispered, shaking her gently until she opened her eyes. She peered into Arie’s eyes, then patted her shoulder. “Go back to sleep now.”

Turning, Tanelia looked back at Meriele and Carric. “Curious,” she said. “Arie is only the second case of lycanthropy I’ve ever seen. The first was a human, probably fifty years or so now, who spent a few months traveling to Syngorn after being attacked, thus went through a few transformations before I was able to rid him of the curse. I cannot recall his eyes having the same gold flecks. His eyes were a greenish hazel.”

Carric exchanged a worried glance with Meriele. “Is this a bad sign? Does she have some strange, rare case of lycanthropy? Or is it just an Arie thing?”

“No,” Tanelia said, shaking her head. “Lycanthropy is lycanthropy. I imagine like any disease it can manifest in different ways in different people and some people get certain symptoms and others don’t. It is possible it’s just an Arie thing, but I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Okay,” Carric said, taking a deep breath. “Okay.”

“Take her home,” Tanelia said. “Let her sleep today and she should be herself tomorrow. I know you’re beating yourself up about this, but honestly, you’re lucky. She’s lucky. She’s lucky you were closeby. A full grown werewolf attacking a six-year-old who’s small for her age and has a disability? We’re all lucky she survived. Focus on that.” 

“She’s right, Carric,” Meriele said.

Carric nodded. “I suppose...yes.”

Tanelia picked Arie up and handed her to Carric. “Bring her back after the next moon, just so we’re sure she’s adjusted. But I don’t foresee any issues.” 

“Thank you,” Carric said.

“Anytime,” Tanelia said. 

The four made their way back through the clinic and into the Miralars’ house. Carric hitched Arie up higher on his hip and paused, looking at Tanelia. 

“Thank you again,” Meriele said. “I don’t know how we would’ve gotten through all of this...and the past six years without you.”

“It’s no trouble,” Tanelia assured them. “I only wish we could do more. We’ll keep researching the magic resistance and perhaps some day, we’ll figure something out. I can research other cures for lycanthropy, try to find other mages who have had success with other spells. If you’d like.”

Carric looked at Meriele, then back to Tanelia. “We’d just agreed this would be our last trip,” he said quietly. “But now...I don’t know. If you hear anything promising, then yes, we’d go. But we can’t keep dragging her all over Tal’Dorei for nothing.”

Tanelia nodded. “I understand. I’ll keep researching, but it’s up to you what you want to do with it.”

“All right,” Carric agreed, then turned to Meriele. “Let’s get her home.”

Carric and Meriele said goodbye to Tanelia and left the house, Arie still bundled up in Carric’s arms. They rode through the streets of Syngorn back to the Whimsical Crate, where Arie slept the entire day and most of the night, as Tanelia predicted. Early the next morning she seemed herself again, walking through the upstairs rooms on her crutches and begging Meriele to read her stories. 

Carric, noticing that Arie’s mischievous grin was back, let out a breath he felt like he’d been holding for the past month. She was okay. She’d likely have to live with this the rest of her life, likely have to hide this the rest of her life, but she was alive. Tanelia was right. They needed to be grateful for that. 

“Daddy, what are you doing?” 

Carric startled and looked toward the door of his bedroom. Arie stood in the doorway, leaning on her crutches, her blonde hair already falling out of the braids Meriele had done earlier, tilting her head at him. Carric thought of the way the wolf had tilted its head at him the previous night and shook his head. No. That was the wolf. This is Arie. 

“Packing,” Carric said as he shoved a spare set of clothes and a dagger into his bag. 

“Are you leaving?” Arie asked, her voice quiet.

“I have to go get wood for our new house,” Carric said. 

“Carric.”

He looked up and saw Meriele leaning against the door jam. She raised her eyebrows at him.

Carric looked to Arie. “Arie, why don’t you go pick out a story for me to read to you?”

“Okay!” Arie said excitedly. She turned and left the room, tripping on a stray sock. Meriele caught her and she hurried off in search of a book.

Meriele picked up the sock and tossed it on the bed. “Where are you really going?” she asked.

“To get wood,” Carric said. 

Meriele gave him one of her signature looks. The kind that somehow managed to extract every little white lie right out of him.

He sighed. “It’s not a lie. I do need to get wood. But I’m also going to find that werewolf and kill him.”

“Carric,” Meriele said. “I know you feel like you need to do this, but it’s not going to change things. Killing that werewolf will not get rid of Arie’s lycanthropy. I know nothing I say is going to change your mind, but I need you to understand that.”

“I do,” Carric assured her. “But I also need to do this. I told her I killed it and I need to make that true. I promise you I’ll be back before the next full moon, whether I find him or not. We have a house to build.”

“And you have a daughter who thinks the world of you,” Meriele said. “Do not get yourself killed trying to kill that werewolf. Your death would traumatize Arie far more than that werewolf did.”

“I know,” Carric said quietly. 

“Be safe,” Meriele said, taking his hand in hers.

“I will,” Carric said. “Take care of our Arie.”

“I will,” Meriele said. 

He turned and kissed her, breaking it off when he heard Arie’s footsteps.

“Found one!” she exclaimed, a big book of fairytales held between her arm and her side. 

Carric took the book and lifted Arie up onto the bed. He and Meriele sat with Arie between them and read a story about a knight who rescued animals in the forest. When they got to the part where the knight has to rescue a wolf, he and Meriele exchanged a glance, but Arie didn’t even react. 

Tanelia was right. Arie was a fighter. No matter what the world seemed to throw her way, and she did seem to get more than her fair share of it, she kept going. Carric knew, whether he managed to find that werewolf or not, that Arie would keep fighting.


End file.
